


It Was a Very Good Year

by War_Lioness



Category: Mass Effect
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-02-08
Updated: 2013-02-08
Packaged: 2017-11-28 14:41:00
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/675536
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/War_Lioness/pseuds/War_Lioness
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Garrus reflects on his life, and the women in it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	It Was a Very Good Year

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Thunz](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thunz/gifts).



> on the occasion of his 40th birthday. 
> 
> Age is just a number, dude. Stay young at heart and stay young forever!
> 
> Inspired by the song "It Was a Very Good Year" composed by Ervin Drake and performed by Frank Sinatra

_When I was seventeen, it was a very good year._   
_It was a very good year for small town girls,_   
_And soft summer nights._   
_We’d hide from the lights_   
_On the village green._   
_When I was seventeen._

Soft music wafted through the room, a song centuries old, and yet still, somehow, popular. Garrus thought back over the long, winding path that had brought him here, to this spot, on this day.

At seventeen, he’d still carried the awkwardness that seemed to plague all species through adolescence. But Claudia hadn’t cared. They had taken advantage of a rare three-day pass to take in some of the local sites.

Or at least, that’s what they told their supervisors.

The relationship hadn’t lasted much past that trip where all they’d seen were the inside of the run-down hotel room that was all they could afford on their salaries. They’d eaten cheap takeout from a stall around the corner and made awkward, adolescent love in the afternoon.

His mandibles flared in a small smile, he really should call her soon, maybe invite her family over for dinner. It would be nice to catch up.

_When I was twenty-one,_   
_It was a very good year._   
_It was a very good year for city girls_   
_Who lived up the stair_   
_With perfumed hair_   
_That came undone._   
_When I was twenty-one._

Kiera had ridden his back harder than anyone else when they had been on the _Indomitable_. A right pain in the ass, she’d always been there when his numbers came up wrong, or his equations failed. He remembered that time on Invictus when his brand-new rifle had been so badly calibrated he’d missed every shot.

Kiera had never let him hear the end of it.

But he gave as good as he got, and better before that last mission before he headed to C-Sec and his father’s scrutiny.

_When I was thirty-five,_   
_It was a very good year._   
_It was a very good year for blue-blooded girls_   
_Of independent means_   
_We’d ride in limousines._   
_Their chauffeurs would drive._   
_When I was thirty-five._

But none of them could so much as hold a candle to the burning star that had been Commander Shepard. She’d sailed into his life like a rogue comet and left everything changed. He wasn’t the same turian he’d been all those years ago.

Hell, the galaxy wasn’t the same either. She had a way of doing that, warping the fabric of reality just with her passing.

Like she was just too _much_ to allow things to remain unchanged once they’d entered her orbit.

_But now the days are short,_   
_I'm in the autumn of the year._   
_And now I think of my life as vintage wine_   
_From fine old kegs_   
_From the brim to the dregs._   
_It poured sweet and clear._   
_It was a very good year._

Yes, so much had changed over the long years, but so much had stayed the same too.

No Shepard without Vakarian.

Now they were all here, the old crew, to celebrate a life well lived. A life filled with joy, and sorrow, and just a hint of regret.

It was a celebration nonetheless.

Eyes would be overflowing by the end of the day with memories of loves and colleagues long passed. And still they would celebrate.

“Dad! You better get out here! Aunt Tali’s set up a drone to do the throwing and Hannah says she’s going to beat _your_ record!”

“I’ll be out in a minute, son.”

“Ok! I’ll tell Aunt Tali not to start without you.”

He closed his eyes and breathed the humid, salt-laden air deeply into his lungs as the last notes of the song faded away.

“You’ve been standing there a long time, lover.” She came in and pressed her forehead to his, wrapping her arms around his waist.

“Thinking of you.” He returned the embrace, wrapping the small redhead in his arms and leaning down to kiss her. “I’m always thinking of you.”

She tilted her head back and favored him with a wry grin. “I just bet you are. What do you say we get out to the beach before those little monsters we call children drive the others to justifiable homicide.”

High, childish voices wafted through the open windows, one a turian male and the other a human female.

“I’m Justus Shepard-Vakarian, and this is my favorite spot in the galaxy!”

“NO! I’m Hannah Vakarian-Shepard, and this is _my_ favorite spot in the galaxy!”

He chuckled softly.

“Lead the way, I’ve got your six.”


End file.
